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Top 25 N64 Games: Number 23- Mario Golf

One of the events that my family enjoyed watching, was golf. Some times it seemed like every time we had a family gathering, the masters or some other type of golfing tournament, was playing on the TV. Now some of you know this pain, the pain of being a child and wanting to watch cartoons, but being forced to watch a game that you were too young to understand or appreciate. This pain is one of excruciating boredom. Now don’t get me wrong, golf is fun to play, I’ve been playing since I was tall enough to hold a club. Watching golf, however, is torture for a child. Yet, when someone changes the formula for golf just a little bit, it suddenly becomes fun to watch and play! The simple notion of turning the golfers into Mario characters, flips the whole thing upside down, into an awesome, colorful, interesting sport…game.

Mario Golf, I have fond memories of this game. Not only has it been a family tradition, but a game that is still played now between me and my friends. This game has changed through out the years, but 64 still holds its title as the best. For those of you that have never played the game, here’s a quick run down of how it works. You choose your character, then choose what map you want to play on, and then get down to business. The club swinging mechanic is an interesting one. It is a two step process. Step one, press A to send the line colored line going a cross a path on the bottom of the screen and try to stop it on the exact other side. The second step is trying to stop the line back on the spot where you started. It sounds weird, but its much easier to see, than to describe; click here for a game play video.

What makes it so perfect? Well it’s another one of those games that anyone can play, but takes a certain special something to master. We all have or had that friend who can hit a perfect shot every time. Those are the people that have taken control of the timing and made it their bitch. They can stop the lines in the right spot every time. Overall it can just be played by everyone, and unless you don’t know how to do simple timing, this game is a whole lot of fun. Every course is colorful and different from the last. The music is fun and upbeat, just like every other Mario game. I have few problems with this game, honestly they’re just knit picky dumb things, so I’m not even gonna bring it up.

Mario golf is a fantastic time. Unfortunately, I recently lost my copy of it. While writing this review I found my self overwhelmed with nostalgia, I need to find another copy of this. Any way get some friends together, get the game, and start Mario Golf’n.